


Long Distance

by perletwo



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-01
Updated: 2012-09-01
Packaged: 2017-11-13 08:28:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/501477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perletwo/pseuds/perletwo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor calls Jane after the shawarma meal to catch her up on current events. Spoilers for the Avengers movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long Distance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ingie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ingie/gifts).



As she didn’t recognize the number, Jane almost didn’t take the call.

“Thor?!”

On the FaceTime display, his strong features softened into the more familiar lines of a smile. “Jane Foster. I feared I would not see your face again upon this visit to Midgard.”

She let go of a reserve of oxygen she hadn’t realized her lungs were holding, and a knock in her chest signaled the resumption of her heartbeat. “Oh God. Thor. I’ve been watching the video feeds, what’s been going on in New York. Are you all right?” She laughed ruefully. “Jeez, I can’t believe I even have to ask _you_ that.”

“I am well, Jane, and so are my new comrades-at-arms. Agent Coulson is dead – slain by my brother.” His smile faded, eyes cast down. “Jane, I cannot spare the time to see you in person. Loki is bound in chains powered by magic, and the longer I tarry the greater the odds he will find a way to escape them. I must take him home to Asgard.”

Jane nodded. “I understand, Thor. You know there are going to be people here on Earth that won’t be happy about that decision, don’t you? I mean, a prince of Asgard standing before an Asgardian tribunal? I foresee the term ‘show trial’ being thrown around loosely real soon now.”

“Of course. You do not think so yourself, I hope?”

“No, I don’t. Because I know you, and I know Sif and the Warriors Three – I saw how you all reacted to what he did in Puente Antiguo. You showed me how important honor is to the Aesir, how devastating the lack of it in Loki was to you all. I know you’ll do right by his victims here.”  
Jane shrugged. “It’s part of why the work I’m doing is so important, trying to reconnect Earth with the other Nine Realms. We need Asgard as an ally. And on a personal note, I need _you_ as a…friend.”

Thor let his silence stretch for an uncomfortably long time. “Thor?”

“…You may not think so once you know what I must tell you,” he said finally. “Jane – Loki – made _use_ of Erik Selvig in this mad quest of his. Or the Tesseract, working through Loki, did so. Little matter it makes, in the end.”

“Erik? Thor, is he all right? Is he -”

“He is well, and himself again, Jane. SHIELD had him investigating this Tesseract, and it – influenced him, I suppose. When knocked unconscious it lost its hold upon him.” Thor brightened. “Indeed, he might even be said to be the hero of the hour. He built a back door into the device it bade him build, and enabled us to close the portal.”

Jane frowned. “Thor, if Erik was under that thing’s control, then maybe your brother…”

He lifted a hand. “I wish it could be that simple, my Jane. But it also controlled another of this new team, and he tells me it is not. That the Tesseract used what it found already inside of him, amplified some things, diminished others. If Loki craved conquest, if he despised me and had naught but comtempt for the Aesir – those feelings truly were his own, if not so potent. There is no defense for him to find there.”

“Or for you to find,” she murmured. “Thor, I’m so, so sorry.”

“As am I, for your sake,” he replied. “Not for all the Nine Realms would I have brought harm to your dearest ones, Jane. You must wish you had never met me.”

Jane laughed, tension seeping out of her. “Wish I’d -?! Oh come _on._ I’m a scientist, remember? I spend my life exploring the limits of the universe. And when I met you, the universe around me suddenly got a whole lot bigger. A whole lot more wonderful. How could I ever regret that?”

“It holds more wonder for me as well now, my Jane,” he said softly, and she beamed.

“Look. If Erik’s been going around opening and closing dimensional portals, then I really, really need to have me a long talk with him. He may be able to contribute to our bifrost project.”

“SHIELD has him at the moment, I believe. How long they will keep him I know not. Their headquarters was decimated in Loki’s assault. It will be some time before they restore their mechanisms. Or their staff; they lost many fine warriors that day.”

“Including Coulson. I know you liked him, Thor. I don’t really get _why_ , but I could see it,” Jane said, and Thor nodded.

“I knew him to be a man of honor as well as a man of war, Jane. The two do not go hand-in-hand as often as they ought; this I know only too well. Meeting him was the first sign I had that Midgard is a realm I can give my allegiance in good conscience.”

“If you say so. Not really my area,” she said wryly.

“Two of my new teammates knew Coulson well, and take the loss hard,” he said. “But – they were not there to see him die, my Jane. I was there, and saw him fall under my own brother’s blade.” Thor shook his head. “I fear – I fear I will not be able to find it in me to forgive.”

“You will,” Jane said with ringing certainty. “It’s your nature.”

He laughed. “Son of Coul said that, as he breathed his last. To Loki. You will lose, he said; it’s your nature.”

Jane nodded. “I don’t believe nature can’t be overcome. There are some that do. But I believe it has to be watched constantly, because it lays traps for the unwary.”

“I agree. But my greatest fear now is that Loki has no desire to overcome his nature. Jane, he is a Frost Giant by birth. He knows this now, and bitterly resents our family for deceiving him. He feels cheated out of not one birthright, but two.”

Jane bit her lip, and her eyes grew distant as she thought that through.

“Okay. With the caveat that I don’t understand the full depth of what that means – I believe knowing the truth is almost always better than not knowing the truth. It’s the foundation of all scientific inquiry. Learning and accepting the truth can be a hard, painful process; I’ve got centuries of the history of science to demonstrate that. But I have to believe it’s going to be worth it in the end.”

Thor smiled warmly. “When you say it, I find I have no choice but to believe it too, Jane Foster.”

She returned the smile. “Then I’d say my work here is done, isn’t it? Get your brother back to Asgard, Thor. And know I’ll be here, waiting, and working toward meeting you again.”

Thor said something in a language Jane didn’t recognize, and she lifted an eyebrow. “Come again?”

“I said, I go, and here is my heart, to hold until we are reunited.”

Jane tried to answer, but found her throat closed with emotion. She waved and signed off.


End file.
